The Genealogy of the Megat Terawis Clan

As mentioned in my earlier posts, one who intends to study the genealogy of the Megat Terawis Clan of Perak must consult the MS40333(2) of SOAS, London together with the genealogical works of 4 individuals:

Wan Ismail Bin Wan Muhammad Aqib

Megat Ismail Bin Megat Ahmad

Megat Ramli Bin Megat Jaafar

Megat Osman Bin Megat Abu Bakar

The genealogy of the Megat Terawis Clan are as follows:

Megat Terawis married to Tun Bongsu Bangsawan (a daughter of Tun Saban – ruler of Upper Perak). From this union, Megat Biajad Mustafa was born. He later became the Bendahara Muda of Perak and was also known by the name Bendahara Muda Megat Sulung. This Bendahara Muda had two sons – Megat Shuib and Megat Abdullah. Both were later appointed as Bendaharas of Perak.

Following the Acheh invasion of Perak in 1619, Puteri Limau Purut was captured together with her father and other members of ther royal family and was brought to Acheh. Megat Abdullah was the one who was responsible for rescuing Puteri Limau Purut – daughter of Sultan Mukaddam Shah of Perak and fiancé of Sultan Mansur Shah of Perak. It was during the reign of Sultan Mansur Shah that Megat Abdullah was appointed as Bendahara of Perak with the title Bendahara Paduka Raja. However, he was widely known as Bendahara Garang.

In the later part of his life, he was again remembered in history as the person leading the Perak entourage accompanying the a royal princess of Perak to marry the Raja Muda of Pahang – Raja Abdullah (son of Sultan Abdul Ghafur Muhaiyuddin). According to Maxwell, during Megat Abdullah’s visit to Pahang, he married a Pahang girl. From this union, one Baginda Danum was born. According to the genealogy of Orang Kaya Indera Maharaja Perba of Jelai, Pahang, one of the Maharaja Perba’s ancestors was one ‘Bendahara Garang’ they were descendants of the royal house of Pagar Ruyung. It is highly likely that the Bendahara Garang here is the same Bendahara Garang of Perak as Megat Terawis (grandfather to Megat Abdullah) was a Pagar Ruyung prince. If this is true, then we have a family tie with Pahang’s Maharaja Perba Clan.

Back in Perak, Megat Abdullah Bendahara Garang had a son named Megat Menjanas. Megat Menjanas was later made Bendahara of Perak and was nicknamed Bendahara Kukut. He married Raja Kenayan Shah Alam Sayong – a daughter of Sultan Muzaffar Shah II of Perak. She’s also a younger sister to both Sultan Mahmud Iskandar Shah and Yang Dipertuan Muda Mansur Shah of Perak. From this union, Megat Terawis II was born and later was made Orang Kaya Bendahara Seri Maharaja of Perak.

This is where the tradition of naming Megat and Puteri as title for children from a female Raja who married a non-raja originated. However, most people fail to appreciate the fact that Megat Terawis II got his ‘Megat’ title from his father who was also a ‘Megat’. The reason for this misunderstanding was that in those days, it is considered rude for one to mention or address a titled person with their personal name. Meaning to say, it is rude to address “Dato’ Bendahara Megat Menjanas”. The correct way of address is “Dato’ Bendahara Paduka Seri Maharaja”. The name Megat Menjanas is only known to close family members. So, for this case, people thought that “Megat Terawis was an offspring of Raja Kenayan and Bendahara Kukut” instead of “Megat Terawis was an offpring of Raja Kenayan and Megat Menjanas”.

Megat Terawis II had 3 sons – Megat Pendia, Megat Shamsu and Megat Abu Kassim. According to Misa Melayu, Megat Terawis II died during the reign of Sultan Alauddin Mughayat Shah. Shortly afterwards, the Sultan died. Megat Terawis was succeeded by Megat Pendia as Bendahara with the title – Bendahara Seri Dewa Raja. Megat Pendia had 2 sons – Megat Mutabar and Megat Omar. However the appointment of Megat Pendia to the Bendaharaship was delayed due to the clash of two Royal princes of Perak.

Sultan Alauddin Mughayat Shah was succeded by his brother – reigning as Sultan Muzaffar Shah III. When Sultan Muzaffar Shah III succeeded to the Perak throne, Perak was divided into two as the younger brother of Sultan Muzaffar Shah III proclaimed himself as the Sultan of Perak – Sultan Muhammad Shah. Sultan Muzaffar Shah III fled up north to Kuala Kangsar while Sultan Muhammad Shah reigned in the South. According to MS Maxwell 24, during the reign of the late Sultan Alauddin Mughayat Shah, Raja Inu (later Sultan Muzaffar Shah III) was already a ruler of Bernam – appointed by his late uncle – Sultan Mahmud Iskandar Shah. Raja Inu feels that he is more eligible than his other brothers to become Sultan of Perak as he was appointed to a minor Sultanship of Bernam. Raja Bisnu (later Sultan Muhammad Shah) – a younger brother to both Raja Radin (Sultan Alauddin Mughayat Shah) and Raja Inu, supported the eldest brother.

As a strong supporter of Sultan Alauddin, when the Raja Inu ascended the throne as Sultan Muzaffar Shah III, Raja Bisnu refused to acknowledge the soverignity of Raja Inu. Hence, he proclaimed himself as Sultan Muhammad Shah. As first act as Sultan, Sultan Muhammad Shah appointed Megat Pendia as the Bendahara of Perak. In Kuala Kangsar, Sultan Muzaffar Shah III appointed his sister’s son – a Kedah Prince named Raja Alim as Bendahara.

However, the clash between these two Sultans were not that long. Later, Sultan Muhammad Shah apologised to his elder brother and invited the latter to return to Berahman Indera and rule as the sole Sultan of Perak. Sultan Muzaffar Shah III agreed. Not long after the royal princes reconciled, Perak was at war with Daeng Matteko and Sutan Berkabat.

During the war, Bendahara Megat Pendia together with the sons of Sultan Muhammad Shah – Raja Muda Iskandar and Raja Kimas were the Perak generals. The former Bendahara Raja Alim did contribute to the defence of Perak. Perak won and Raja Alim was later banished to Melaka. It was during this war that the Bendahara Muda Megat Omar – son of Megat Pendia lost his life.

Megat Pendia was succeeded by his younger brother – Megat Abu Kassim as Bendahara. This Megat Abu Kassim is married to Long Luya Binti Daeng Usman – Seri Maharaja Lela. From this union, Megat Mansur was born (later known as Orang Kaya Besar Seri Maharaja). Megat Mutabar – son of Megat Pendia was promoted from a Temenggong to Orang Kaya Besar. The grandson of Megat Pendia was appointed as Bendahara Muda. The name of this Bendahara Muda is none other than Megat Muhammad Mentaha who was nicknamed as Megat Lambat Makan of Kuala Kenas.

During the reign of Sultan Iskandar Zulkarnain, Megat Abu Kassim resigned as Bendahara together with several other chiefs. Following his resignation, the office of Bendahara was converted to a Royal Title – Raja Bendahara Wazirul Kabir Bakal Raja Muda.

The Bendahara Muda was compensated with the title Orang Kaya Besar as the title was vacant following the death of Megat Mutabar. Hence, the new Orang Kaya Besar became known as Tok Kaya Megat Lambat Makan of Kuala Kenas. He was married firstly with Puteri Hitam Sayong (a daughter of Megat Mutabar and sister of Orang Kaya Besar Megat Gombak Marasin). Secondly, he was married to the widow of Megat Abu Kassim – Long Luya Binti Seri Maharaja Lela Daeng Usman. Megat Mentaha later married a daughter of one Tok Kaya Muda (name unknown) and begot Megat Inu (also known as Tok Kaya Senin) and Megat Kassim (Tok Nara Tior).

As for today’s generation of the clan, they can trace their roots from the following individuals:

Megat Gombak Marasin Bin Megat Mutabar

Megat Muhammad Mentaha Bin Megat Omar

– wife 1 (Puteri Hitam Sayong Binti Megat Mutabar)

-wife 2 (Long Luya Binti Daeng Usman)

-wife 3 (daughter of one Tok Kaya Muda)

Megat Mansur Bin Megat Abu Kassim

The chart below illustrates the genealogical relationships of today’s common ancestors.

Common Ancestors within the Megat Clan

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8 Responses to The Genealogy of the Megat Terawis Clan

It’s a very interesting blog that you have written about the Megat Terawis Clan! Good sequence of history : )
Due to curiosity, I would like to ask 2 questions. Is there any meeting, conference or forum being conducted for the clan members? Do your clan have any connection with other Malay clans outside Malaysia?

Thank you for your visit at this blog. These are my answers to your questions.

1. Prior to the formation of the Megat Terawis Clan Association of Malaysia in December 2003, I started the Yahoo!Group “Salasilah Megat”. This was the first platform for clan members to socialise and to know each other. This group is still active and operational until today.

After the formation of the Clan Association, we had several gatherings and get-togethers. During the grand gatherings in June 2003 and October 2008, we displayed the updated thorough family tree for viewing. A Genealogical Seminar was also conducted during the gathering for people to learn more about the clan history.

Today, apart from the Yahoo!Group, we also have two Facebook pages – one is for clan members only and the other is a fan page open to all.

So, the answer to your first question is YES we do have platforms for clan members to interact – both online and the traditional way.

2. Genealogically, yes we do have connections with other Malay clans. But, when you say Malay clans outside Malaysia, my answer would be we do have connections but no effort been done to contact / trace them.

For instance, our ancestors were from the Royal House of Pagar Ruyung. The Royal House of Pagar Ruyung is also connected to many Malay clans in Indonesia.

As for one of our ancestors who was married to a Bugis Princess, this in turn links the family with other Malay clans of Bugis origin in Indonesia.

Some clan members are known to have Thai citizenship and they are married to local Malay clans there.

So, like I said earlier, the connection is there but the effort to contact was not there.

I’m representing of Megat Kulup Puteh clan,fyi my late grandmother is Puteri Zawiyyah Binti Megat Kulup Puteh. Appreciate if u could explain and tell me more about my family history and relationship. I’ve been told from my late grandmother that Tok Kaya Senin is her grandfather and she live at Kg Senin,Bota Kanan,Perak.
Thanks and Regards

Indeed we have your late grandmother’s details in our database. Unfortunately, according to our records, she is not a grandchild of Tok Kaya Senin. She is actually a great-great-great grand child of Tok Kaya Senin as her ancestry is recorded as follows:

Firstly I really impressed with all the work and research that you have done about our clan and I would like to know more about my family history and relationship so that I could share it with the rest of my family….my name is Megat Azman bin Megat Khalid bin Megat Ayub (elder brother of the late Tan Sri Megat Junid) bin Megat Aman bin Megat Jaafar. This year raya I visited the Makam Megat Terawis and it’s a pity that it was in a very poor condition (pic in FB). I really hope that something can be done about it, thank you.

Thank you for visiting this site. As I mentioned in my FB, an earlier posting on this blog by myself has mentioned about the problem and yes, the Persatuan is now in discussion with the relevant authorities – hopefully we can get something done for the preservation of the makam.

About the salasilah, if you are interested, the Persatuan provides certain genealogical services to family members which includes printing customised family tree chart. Let me know if you are interested and I will contact you privately.